Which path is the right path?

Last month, our project team here at the Community Hospital East (CHE) Campus Redevelopment hosted TeenWorks, a program that teaches and empowers teens to achieve excellence in college, their career and the community. We had the opportunity to show these students firsthand what a career in construction can mean and what it's like to be on the jobsite.

I found the experience incredibly rewarding. Many of the students in the program are going into their junior or senior years, and they will soon be faced with some big decisions regarding their future. I’ve been down this same path with my own children, and what I found to be most important for parents to help their children understand is that there are no limits.

I overhead one of the TeenWorks leaders tell students that there isn’t just one path that is the right path to start your career. How true this is! Some may go to college and get a degree in project management, while others may go through an apprenticeship program and learn a trade skill. It's important that students understand all of the options available and choose what's best for them.

On the day of the tour, our team shared how each of us got started in the industry, answered questions and took students on a tour of the jobsite. It was fun to reflect back on how I started my career and share my own experience with the students – they can certainly bring a fresh and different perspective through their questions! Our entire team enjoyed hosting TeenWorks and helping them understand the numerous paths available to them for starting a career in the construction industry. It was a great day filled with learning, and I am looking forward to hosting another group of students in the future!

For more information on our Community Hospital East project, click here.

About the Author

Dominic ErrichielloProject Executive, Indiana

Dominic has been in the construction industry for 40 years, and he has been with Pepper Construction for 17 years. Throughout his career, Dominic has specialized in complex healthcare construction, for clients such as Community Health and Hospital, Eskenazi Hospital and Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana. He is a member of the Indiana Rural Health Association, American Society for Healthcare Engineering, Indiana Society for Healthcare Engineering and American Hospital Association. Dominic holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University. He also attended Indiana Vocational Technical College and served in the United States Army Combat of Engineers.